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US-POLITICS-CONGRESS
It’s official: divided government arrives on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON, Jan 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Washington’s new era of divided
government begins Thursday as Democrats seize control of the US House, aiming
to serve as a check on Donald Trump’s disruptive presidency at least until
the 2020 election.
Battle-tested Nancy Pelosi will in all likelihood win the gavel as speaker
of the House of Representatives, a dramatic return to national power for the
California Democrat who made history a dozen years earlier as the first woman
to lead the chamber.
She will take command during a period of American political upheaval, and
with a caucus riding high after a very strong midterm election showing last
November. Thursday brings an end to Trump’s one-party rule in Washington, a
massive boost for Democrats who felt deflated after Trump’s 2016 victory.
Progressives will be eager to push back with greater effect against an
administration they believe has overstepped its authority and abused power in
the nearly two years since Trump’s inauguration.
They will have that opportunity, as congressional panels will be led by
chairmen who have pledged to probe topics such as Trump’s income taxes, his
firing of attorney general Jeff Sessions, and the president’s ties to
Vladimir Putin.
Incoming chairpersons have signaled that Trump will face a barrage of
probes that could bog down a White House already besieged by Special Counsel
Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion probe, draining energy from the
administration’s agenda and foiling Trump’s message.
“It’s on,” Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, a new member of House leadership who
is seen by some as a potential future House speaker, tweeted Wednesday.
“Tomorrow, we seize the majority. Then, we pass legislation to end
reckless #TrumpShutdown,” he added. “Next, we fight to lower healthcare costs
and enact a progressive agenda.”
While the “blue wave” swept dozens of House Republicans out of Congress
last November, Trump’s party managed to modestly expand its majority in the
Senate to 57-43, meaning Washington gridlock is almost certain to deepen.
– Not ‘stirring the pot’ –
Among the first tasks of the 116th Congress will be ending a nearly two-
week government shutdown that has left one quarter of federal agencies
shuttered due to lapsed funding.
Trump has said he would not sign a spending bill that does not include
$5.6 billion for construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border, but
Democrats appear uninterested in appeasing him.
Pelosi has introduced new measures that would fund the agencies, but she
noted that they “contain no new wall funding,” a move the White House — and
leaders in the Republican-controlled Senate — dismissed as a non-starter.
“Democrats will have to get serious about border security so that a
government funding agreement may be reached that can pass the House, earn 60
votes here in the Senate, and receive a presidential signature,” Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
“All three of these things are needed. One partisan vote in the House
tomorrow won’t solve anything.”
The House and Senate gavel into session Thursday at noon (1700 GMT), with
the new Congress sworn in shortly thereafter. Pelosi is expected to win her
speaker election in the early afternoon.
She will preside over the most diverse Congress in history. One hundred
House freshmen will take the oath of office, including trailblazers like New
York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who at 29 was the youngest woman ever
elected to Congress.
The first two Native American women and first two Muslim women were also
elected.
The House and Senate will each have a record number of female members come
Thursday.
Democrats will move early to protect coverage for people with pre-existing
conditions, a popular feature of the Affordable Care Act that a judge in
Texas recently struck down.
House Democrats are thumbing their nose at Trump by establishing a special
committee on climate so the government can better respond to the urgency of
global warming.
Hovering in the background in Washington will be the threat of
impeachment, and it is almost certain that some Democrats will introduce
proceedings to remove Trump from office.
Even if Democrats believe some of Trump’s actions clear the threshold of
“high crimes and misdemeanors,” Pelosi has downplayed the prospects of
impeachment.
“It would be very divisive,” she told Elle magazine. “It’s not something
that I’m stirring the pot on.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1122 hrs